Economy

[PTS]

Is anyone else noticing a decline in tree work? We are staying busy however many customers over the past few weeks have complained about the economy and said that they are going to wait on their project or what ever.

Our inbound calls have decreased from 20 a day to around 5 per day. So I think it is safe to say there is an impact. One could argue it is us, however I don't think that we have changed anything to cause it.

Also, does anyone know a home remedy to make your own gas and diesel? I am ready to cut out the middle man

 

[poulson01]

Is anyone else noticing a decline in tree work? We are staying busy however many customers over the past few weeks have complained about the economy and said that they are going to wait on their project or what ever.

Our inbound calls have decreased from 20 a day to around 5 per day. So I think it is safe to say there is an impact. One could argue it is us, however I don't think that we have changed anything to cause it.

Also, does anyone know a home remedy to make your own gas and diesel? I am ready to cut out the middle man

I haven't worked but 4 or 5 days since October. I'm a heavy equipment operator and truck driver.
I'm lucky though. I have the farm to keep me busy so I've been hard at that since March.
As for diesel, we're all with you on that one, I'm sure. The school bus garage over here has been cutting their diesel with fryer oil for years. They just screen out the french fries and dump it in.
I know all about making "bio diesel" or running a diesel on straight fryer oil so if you want info, I can tell you what I know. If you Google it yourself, you'll be an expert in an hour or two. There's reams of articles on the subject by now.

Gas, we're stuck with. Ethanol sucks. Meth is a good home brew but you can go to jail for it. Water injection and Somender Sings groves are good reading.

Edit: Yes I've noticed a decline in tree work (if you call clearing building lots tree work).

 

[masterarbor]

this spring has been a little slower than usual. what i've noticed most is that people are getting multiple estimates. In my area that is challenging, because of the large number of "fly by night" operations who have lower overhead. things seem to be picking up however. my hope is that people will continue to recognize quality and choose it over economy. hang in there fellas. i encourage you not to sacrifice the quality of work as a trade off for a lower bid. what happens is you water down your branding and it is increasingly difficult to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys. wear the white hat!

 

[JShaw]

We are experimenting with biodiesel right now. A friend of mine has been running biodiesel processed from used fryer oil for about a year now. He's had some kinks, with some bad batches but things are getting easier for him. Check out www.journeytoforever.com, it's a nice story and gives you an idea of what the process is. There are a few more websites out there but I can't remember them right off. I'll post them later. But you can do a homemade system and spend less or buy prebuild systems for $2000 to $5000 depending on size and extras. You need a source for oil as well, we have a local bar we get our oil from. They give it to us but it can be full of food scraps so it needs to be filtered a few times. Hope that helps.

 

[glenn31792]

http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP93_pg32_Durkee
http://www.homepower.com/search/results/?search=tickell

http://www.homepower.com/article/?file=HP72_pg84_Tickell

 

[TDunk]

A couple things i've noticed is that alot more people are passing on paying me to chip/clean-up and there doing it them selves to save money. Plus i have had more than a few people tell me that i have the job, but they need to wait until they get there stimulis pay from the govt.

 

[PTS]

I have noticed a lot more customers price shopping. Drives me crazy. Unfortunately for me I am the big company around here and I have lots and lots of overhead.

I also have noticed more customers giving us the go ahead but asking us to wait for a month or so, very well could be that govt check.

 

[mckeetree]

We are plenty busy but I have noticed a lot of "door knockers" sneaking around in their $500 pickups lately. That's never good.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

I have not even begun to advertise locally, but am getting a lot more calls after I added more "Portland" and suburb text to my website pages to replace the "Medford".

The biggest surge is on-site consulting for trees, drainage, landscape modifications.

But pathway, sod install and landscape calls are coming in too.

Also pruning, and even repeat work within 2 weeks is happening.

Hopefully I will have time to submit my ad for two local suburb paper now that our unpacking is almost done.

Best I can tell, we are doing better now without a big advertising effort, than the work calls 3 years ago prior to moving.

On the news today, I heard that Oregon's unemployment and economic situation near Portland, was in a lot better condition that most areas of the country.

So even if things are going exceptionally well here, I'm not sure if my work volume would be a useful comparison for other areas.

 

[hornett224]

this spring started out dead.

i thought i was in real trouble.now i have so much work,i can't find time to even bid jobs.i hope it lasts.i'm booked a month out at least.

 

[JShaw]

Here are those websites on biodiesel. Let me know if you give it a try.

http://localb100.com/
http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/appleseedprocessor/
http://homebiodieselkits.com/homeprocessors.html

 

[Treetom]

I'm just as busy as ever, but have been doing thngs like pulling bushes and removing fences, to diversify my business. Also, I'm doing smaller jobs that I'd normally pass on in the past. If I can leave the bucket truck and the loader, (along with the truck and trailer to haul it) at the yard and knock out four or five little jobs per day, there's more profit than doing one big job that takes the same amount of time. Diesel just went up to $4.80+ in these parts. I asked the local burger joint owner if I could get some waste fry oil from him. No luck there. He said a year ago he paid to have it hauled, but now he's selling it.

 

[fireman]

hey guys look at diesel secrets .com.im looking at it right know to see if it will work.we are staying real busy to.

 

[mckeetree]

I'm just as busy as ever, but have been doing thngs like pulling bushes and removing fences, to diversify my business. Also, I'm doing smaller jobs that I'd normally pass on in the past. If I can leave the bucket truck and the loader, (along with the truck and trailer to haul it) at the yard and knock out four or five little jobs per day, there's more profit than doing one big job that takes the same amount of time. Diesel just went up to $4.80+ in these parts. I asked the local burger joint owner if I could get some waste fry oil from him. No luck there. He said a year ago he paid to have it hauled, but now he's selling it.

Diversify. Is that what you call that?

 

[Sunrise Guy]

Business is up a good deal, but expenses are too, so that is keeping my profit dollars down. As I see it, the powers that be are out to wipe out the middle class is the US. The ruling elite want us to be broken, and broke, to the point where we will work for the same wages as out-source workers in poorer countries. In that way, the rich will get richer, as usual, but then, they will not have to worry about any competition from the independent businessman, like you and I, because we will be forced to work for them, for low wages, just to feed our families. It is a terrible situation and, short of radical changes in our whole system, I do not see how it will be avoided.

 

[Prune Juice]

I Agree

One big happy municipality...

 

[Toddppm]

Started out dead but once it got going we have been steadily busy. We're at least a month out right now and looking good.
I've done a ton of estimates this year, more than usual but the majority of our work is coming from existing customers.

 

[PTS]

Have you ever noticed how mother nature can help boost the economy by forcing the insurance people to put some of their money back into circulation.

Sunday night large tornadoes ripped through Iowa EF5 and EF3. Something like 50 miles long one mile wide for the EF5 and EF3 was spotty however did manage to hit a town or two.

Don't worry though, I will spend their insurance money wisely

 

[treemandan]

Diversify. Is that what you call that?

Hell I just took my first lawn cutting job since I was 11. Its for a neighbor who is getting on and I would have just told the kid down the street but now I want to make the most out of each client and keep it to myself.
As I was cutting this ladies grass with my old cub cadet 36" lawn tractor I was thinking" this is something I usually do drunk and a lot slower." As I am bouncing through the yard at warp speed trying not to hurt any trees I ran full bore into the sewer vent, stoppped me dead.
I can start hauling scrap steel if I have to. One guy around here got through the winter like that.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Things are very very slow over here in the UK, of course you always get the BS artists who will tell you they're flat out!

The only firms busy over here are the ones with large commercial or local authority/council contracts, and of course the utility boys...


Your cheap lowballers will always have plenty of work, here in the UK they're like the plague!